Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

I'll give this a try. I'm new, so feel free to correct my mistakes. :)

All Challenges Completed:
Challenge #1 - Old & New TBR Challenge 12 + 3
Challenge #3 - Decade Challenge
Challenge #4 - Members Choice Challenge
Challenge #7 - Expand Your Horizon With New Authors
Challenge #9 – Fiction/Non-Fiction
Challenge #10 - The Half a Millennium Challenge with a Sour Lemon Twist of Difficult
Challenge #11 - Old and New Linked Categories

Challenge #1 - Old & New TBR Challenge 12 + 3
Read 12 of the books listed below.
Cannot change list after 2022.
Completed: 13/12

Old School: 1899 and earlier
1 King John by William Shakespeare 5/3
2 Richard II by William Shakespeare 8/31
3 Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare 3/13
4 Sonnets by William Shakespeare 9/22
5 Oedipus the King by Sophocles 10/10
6 English Romantic Poetry by Stanley Appelbaum 4/23

New School: 1900-1999
1 As I Lay Dying
2 The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro 1/23
3 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark 4/1
4 The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie 1/24
5 The Hollow by Agatha Christie 2/2
6 Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse 10/12

Alternates:
1 Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield 9/15
2 Their Eyes Were Watching God
3 A Month In The Country by J.L. Carr 1/30

Challenge #3 - Decade Challenge
Completed: 8/10

1800 - Wordsworth: Poems by William Wordsworth 9/24
1810 - 1817 Persuasion by Jane Austen 1/21
1820 - 1820 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving 10/3
1830 - 1836 Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson 12/18
1840 - 1847 The Children of the New Forest by Frederick Marryat 5/6
1850 - 1854 North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell 2/19
1860 - Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope 12/10
1870 - 1872 Middlemarch by George Eliot 3/3
1880 - 1887 The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde 6/12
1890 - 1897 Dracula (Large Print, Annotated) by Bram Stoker 1/9


Challenge #4 - Members Choice Challenge
Choose one book per category/genre for a total of 12 books.
Completed: 12/12

1. 19th Century: Middlemarch by George Eliot 3/3
2. 20th Century: The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro 1/23
3. A book originally written in a language other than your own: The Soul of a Woman by Isabel Allende 1/4
4. Current or Past Group Read: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell 2/19
5. An Author not read before: A Month In The Country by J.L. Carr 1/30
6. Diversity Classic, read a book from a religion, culture, country, or race different than yours: The Red Convertible: Selected and New Stories, 1978-2008 by Louise Erdrich 3/20
7. Science Fiction/Fantasy: Dracula (Large Print, Annotated) by Bram Stoker 1/9
8. Action/Adventure: The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan 2/12
9. Children/Young Adult: Winnie The Pooh by A.A. Milne 4/8
10. Nonfiction: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl 1/23
11. Mystery/Thriller: The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie 1/24
12. Horror or Humor: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde 2/9

Challenge #7 - Expand Your Horizon With New Authors

Seek out at least six (6) authors that you have never previously read, from any genre or era you want.
(I'm counting classics and nonfiction about classic books or times.)

1. Dracula (Large Print, Annotated) by Bram Stoker 1/9
2. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro 1/23
3. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl 1/23
4. A Month In The Country by J.L. Carr 1/30
5. Middlemarch by George Eliot 3/3
6. The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 by James Shapiro 3/4
7. The Red Convertible: Selected and New Stories, 1978-2008 by Louise Erdrich 3/20
8. Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope 3/20
9. Old Herbaceous: A Novel of the Garden by Reginald Arkell 3/26
10. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark 4/1
11. Death in Captivity by Michael Gilbert 4/10
12. Quick Curtain by Alan Melville 4/23
13. The Children of the New Forest by Frederick Marryat 5/6
14. Checkmate to Murder: A Second World War Mystery by E.C.R. Lorac 5/26
15. With a Bare Bodkin by Cyril Hare 5/31
16. Thirteen Guests by J. Jefferson Farjeon 6/22
17. Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick 7/6
18. The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo 9/11
19. The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction by William Doyle 10/6
20. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse 10/12
20. The Lady and Her Monsters: A Tale of Dissections, Real-Life Dr. Frankensteins, and the Creation of Mary Shelley's Masterpiece by Roseanne Montillo 10/23
21. Abigail by Magda Szabó 10/24
22. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 10/31
23. That Affair Next Door by Anna Katharine Green 11/5

Adding One. This is the one I'm most likely to NOT complete, but I like the idea, so I'll try.

Challenge #9 – Fiction/Non-Fiction
(view spoiler)[Select five different subjects of interest to you and read a fiction book and a non-fiction book about that subject. Total number of books for this challenge is ten. (hide spoiler)]
Books Completed: 10/10

Shakespeare:
Fiction -King Lear by William Shakespeare 2/5
Nonfiction - The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 by James Shapiro 3/4

Being Female:
Fiction - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark 4/1
Nonfiction - The Soul of a Woman by Isabel Allende 1/4

French Revolution:
Fiction - A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 10/8
Nonfiction - The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction by William Doyle 10/6

Poetry:
Fiction - English Romantic Poetry by Stanley Appelbaum 4/23
Nonfiction - How to Read Poetry Like a Professor: A Quippy and Sonorous Guide to Verse by Thomas C. Foster 9/17

Frankenstein and Mary Shelley:
Fiction - Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 10/31
Nonfiction - The Lady and Her Monsters: A Tale of Dissections, Real-Life Dr. Frankensteins, and the Creation of Mary Shelley's Masterpiece by Roseanne Montillo 10/23


Challenge #10 - The Half a Millennium Challenge with a Sour Lemon Twist of Difficult
Five books, five different centuries, same decade.
Completed: 5/5

16th Century - 1590s - 1595 As You Like It by William Shakespeare 3/17
17th Century - 1690s - 1692 The Practice of the Presence of God the Best Rule of a Holy Life by Brother Lawrence 8/19
18th Century - 1790s - 1792 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge 4/3
19th Century - 1890s - 1897 Dracula (Large Print, Annotated) by Bram Stoker 1/9
20th Century - 1990s - 1990 The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro 1/23

Challenge #11 - Old and New Linked Categories
(view spoiler)[Select five categories of your choice or use some of these sample categories. Once you make your category selections, link the categories by finding and reading an Old School (1899 or older) and a New School book (1900-1999) that contains some part or is all about your selected categories. It will be more interesting and more varied if you come up with your own categories. (hide spoiler)]
Books Completed: 10/10

Categories: -
French Revolution:
Old School: 1859 A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 10/8
New School: 1905 The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy 10/2

Life in the Country:
Old School: 1872 Middlemarch by George Eliot 3/3
New School: 1980 A Month In The Country by J.L. Carr 1/30

Fathers and Children:
Old School: 1605 King Lear by William Shakespeare 2/5
New School: 2004 Gilead by Marilynne Robinson 12/10

In the Garden:
Old School: 1898 Elizabeth & Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim 4/13
New School: 1950 Old Herbaceous: A Novel of the Garden by Reginald Arkell 3/26

Women "On-the-Shelf":
Old School: 1853 Cranford Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell 9/14
New School: 1961 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark 4/1

Delighted to have you playing along. Have fun!

Welcome, no mistakes here just good reading, enjoy!

Bob wrote: "Welcome, no mistakes here just good reading, enjoy!"

Thanks, Sara and Bob. Some groups are pretty strict about how things work, so you never know.

It's the last day of the year and I always feel like a race horse straining for the track just before the starting gun goes off. lol I want to start reading all the luscious books I've planned!

Note - I had to make one change to my TBR list, because when I started a book I thought I hadn't read, I recognized it. That comes from having read voraciously for over 60 years, most of those years without Goodreads.

Teri-K wrote: "Bob wrote: "Welcome, no mistakes here just good reading, enjoy!"

Thanks, Sara and Bob. Some groups are pretty strict about how things work, so you never know.

It's the last day of the year and I ..."



In response to the "rules" question. I have been in a few groups, and each had their merits. One of those groups had a rule that all books needed a certain lexile - basically not children's books - and also the MPE most popular edition needed to be over 100 pages long. Remembering the constraints of those rules makes me happy that we include short stories. Also, there were some strange consequences like most of Agatha Christie's books were disqualified. Still I want to say that I did enjoy that group for a while and they are lovely people.

Only two points here--read and have fun. Hope you do both without any but self-imposed rules to worry about.

Lynn wrote: "In response to the "rules" question. I have been in a few groups, and each had their merits. One of those groups had a rule that all books needed a certain lexile - basically not children's books - and also the MPE most popular edition needed to be over 100 pages long. Remembering the constraints of those rules makes me happy that we include short stories. ..."

I know that group - in fact I'm participating again right now. Sometimes it works for me, other times I have more decided ideas about what I want to read and it doesn't.

I appreciate that this group is pretty relaxed. I think I'll fit in just fine. :)

Planned Reads for March that fit here:
#1 Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare 3/13
#3, 4, 7 & #11 Middlemarch by George Eliot 3/3
#9 The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 by James Shapiro 3/4
#9 Hobbit and Philosophy - maybe finish
#10 As You Like It by William Shakespeare 3/17
#11 Old Herbaceous
#4 The Red Convertible: Selected and New Stories, 1978-2008 by Louise Erdrich 3/20

Looks like you almost have challenges 4 and 7 done, congrats. Middlemarch has been on my TBR for years, hope you are enjoying it.

Bob wrote: "Looks like you almost have challenges 4 and 7 done, congrats. Middlemarch has been on my TBR for years, hope you are enjoying it."

Thanks! I can't say I loved Middlemarch, though it should have fit me really well. I thought she picked the wrong MCs, myself. I did find the last two books really good, though, so at least it ended strongly.

April Books:
#1, 7, 11 - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark 4/1
#10 - The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
#4 - Winnie The Pooh by A.A. Milne 4/8
#7 - Death in Captivity by Michael Gilbert 4/10
#11 - Elizabeth & Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim 4/13
#9 - The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien 4/14
#1 - English Romantic Poetry by Stanley Appelbaum 4/23
#7 - Quick Curtain by Alan Melville 4/23

Congratulations on completing Challenge 7 (New Authors). Fantastic!

Wobbley wrote: "Congratulations on completing Challenge 7 (New Authors). Fantastic!"

Thanks! I've decided to keep listing the new authors I read of Classics or books about history or classical topics, just to see how many I get in a year. I tend to do a lot of rereading, so this will help keep me trying new authors.

That's a great idea! I too tend towards authors I've read before. But I actually wish I did more rereading. There are always so many new things to read, but it's so satisfying to reread a favourite!

Wobbley wrote: "That's a great idea! I too tend towards authors I've read before. But I actually wish I did more rereading. There are always so many new things to read, but it's so satisfying to reread a favourite!"

Rereading classics or books I haven't read in years can be especially satisfying, because I come at the book with different eyes and see things I missed the first time, or the first four or five times. lol I firmly believe a really good book can't be absorbed in just one reading. And then there's the pleasure I get from revisiting a good book - it's like seeing a good friend and enjoying their company over and over again.

Teri-K wrote: "And then there's the pleasure I get from revisiting a good book - it's like seeing a good friend and enjoying their company over and over again."

Yes, this is what I most love about rereading!

May:
#3 & 7 The Children of the New Forest by Frederick Marryat 5/6
#7 Checkmate to Murder: A Second World War Mystery by E.C.R. Lorac 5/26
#7 With a Bare Bodkin by Cyril Hare 5/31

June:
#3 The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde 6/12
#7 Thirteen Guests by J. Jefferson Farjeon 6/22

Teri-K wrote: "June: #3 The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde 6/12"

What did you think of this one?

Also, I've noticed you're only one book away from being done Challenge #4. You've made a lot of progress, and we're not even halfway through the year. Well done!

Wobbley wrote: "Teri-K wrote: "June: #3 The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde 6/12"

What did you think of this one?

Also, I've noticed you're only one book away from being done Challeng..."

Thanks. I really like The Canterville Ghost. I've read it before, and seen the stage play and movie, but it's been a while. I'm a fan in general of Oscar Wilde. His sense of humor and mine are pretty similar.

I haven't been planning what I read, just going with whatever I feel like, and it surprises me that I haven't yet read a book in translation this year. Normally I'd expect to have read several by now. I have a couple sitting on my shelf to be read soon, so we'll see which one I grab first.

Teri-K wrote: "I haven't been planning what I read, just going with whatever I feel like, and it surprises me that I haven't yet read a book in translation this year. Normally I'd expect to have read several by now."

Aren't The Soul of a Woman and Man's Search for Meaning both translated books? You're further along than you think! :)

Wobbley wrote: "Teri-K wrote: "I haven't been planning what I read, just going with whatever I feel like, and it surprises me that I haven't yet read a book in translation this year. Normally I'd expect to have re..."

I didn't think of that! It's especially bad because one of the reasons I'm teaching myself is Spanish is so I can read Allende in the original language. And it still didn't click! Thanks for the head's up. I'll go fix that one now...

Hey, now you're able to be done Challenge #4. That's exciting!

(Also, you might want to choose the Allende for your "book in another language" in Challenge #4, because you currently have the Frankl listed under 2 different categories in that challenge.)

Wobbley wrote: "Hey, now you're able to be done Challenge #4. That's exciting!

(Also, you might want to choose the Allende for your "book in another language" in Challenge #4, because you currently have the Frank..."

Oops. Good thing someone is paying attention. Thanks again.

Teri-K wrote: "Oops. Good thing someone is paying attention. Thanks again."

No worries. Well done completing your challenge!

July:
#7 Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick 7/6

August:
#1 Richard II by William Shakespeare 8/31

Well done! I haven't read this one. For you, where does it fit among his plays that you've read, in terms of which you liked best?

I gave Richard II 5 stars - 4.5 rounded up. Richard is fascinating; a self-indulgent king who believes God put him on the throne so he can do anything he wants, until he learns that's not so. He has a lot of great lines, and his speech "This hollow crown" is fabulous. Plus it has "This happy breed" in context, which is enlightening. I first read this a couple of years ago and found it just as good on rereading. You should give it a try and let me know what you think.

I've never read this one. That's a pretty glowing recommendation!

Wobbley wrote: "I've never read this one. That's a pretty glowing recommendation!"

The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that I think the scenes with the queen are unnecessary. Probably they're there for some reason I'm not getting, though. Oh, the ending is bit of a let down, too, though I don't know how it could have been fixed since (view spoiler)[ Richard is the focus of the play and he's dead now. (hide spoiler)] This play is tightly focused on one deeply flawed but human man. You don't have to know any British history or customs to understand it, either.

I suspect the degree to which this play works for you is how much Richard interests you. Plus the great speeches. Richard and York are both very eloquent, and I love that. But mostly I consider myself a student of human nature and I love character-driven stories. So this really works for me.

While reading it this time I also watched the David Tennant performance, which it turns out I didn't generally care for. But there are a number of movie versions available, so it must be a play that works for quite a few people. I wish I knew someone else who enjoys Shakespeare like I do, so I could get other's perspectives on them!

Oh, you should drop by Matt's thread in the Personal Challenges section! He's reading all of Shakespeare, and it looks like he read Richard II a few months ago, and gave it 5 stars.

September:
New Author: The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo 9/11
Old and New Linked: Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell 9/14
Old and New TBR: Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield 9/15
Fiction/Nonfiction: How to Read Poetry Like a Professor: A Quippy and Sonorous Guide to Verse by Thomas C. Foster 9/17
Old & New TBR: Sonnets by William Shakespeare 9/22
Decade: Wordsworth: Poems by William Wordsworth 9/24

Teri-K wrote: "August:
#1 Richard II by William Shakespeare 8/31"

Shakespeare, the most difficult, enjoyed reading I have ever done. Some are much better than others, but I have not regretted any, yet.

Bob wrote: "Teri-K wrote: "August:
#1 Richard II by William Shakespeare 8/31"

Shakespeare, the most difficult, enjoyed reading I have ever done. Some are much better than others, bu..."

I so agree! I first experienced Shakespeare when I was very little and we'd go to town to my grandparents house to watch one of his plays on their color tv. I fell in love with his language then. After 60 years of experiencing him, I can honestly say/paraphrase "Age cannot wither him, nor custom stale His infinite variety. Other(s) cloy The appetites they feed, but he makes hungry."

October Completed:

# 2 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving 10/3
#7, #9 The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction by William Doyle 10/6
#11 The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy 10/2
#9, #11 A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 10/8
#1, #9 Oedipus the King by Sophocles 10/10
#1 Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse 10/12
#7, #9 The Lady and Her Monsters: A Tale of Dissections, Real-Life Dr. Frankensteins, and the Creation of Mary Shelley's Masterpiece by Roseanne Montillo 10/23
#7, #9 Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 10/31

Well done! How did you enjoy them? I've never read Sleepy Hollow, but I remember finding The Scarlet Pimpernel to be a fun read.

Scarlet Pimpernel was fun. I used to despise Marguerite, but I didn't this time. Maybe I'm getting nicer? lol
I haven't read Sleepy Hollow in ages. I really love his descriptions, and the portrait he paints of Ichabod. It's a quick read, but definitely suited to Autumn.

It sounds like you enjoyed both, which is great!

I did. I'm also rereading A Tale of Two Cities and a nonfiction book on the French revolution. and listening to a podcast on it, too. So doing a deep dive there. It's interesting.

November Completed:
#7 New Authors That Affair Next Door by Anna Katharine Green 11/5

You're closing in on the finish line with still 2 months to go. Good luck!

Thanks! I'm a mood reader who doesn't have a lot of money to buy books, so sometimes I don't finish long challenges because my interests have changed. But this one is varied enough that I could always find something good. I'm pleased with how it's going.

I just have Nature, Framley Parsonage and Gilead to go.

Teri-K wrote: "Thanks! I'm a mood reader who doesn't have a lot of money to buy books, so sometimes I don't finish long challenges because my interests have changed. But this one is varied enough that I could alw..."

All the best, Teri-K! I'm sure you can complete them.